//------------------------------// // Chapter Six // Story: Respect the elder generation // by Peace Petal //------------------------------// After wandering around the library for another ten minutes, Fizzy circled back to the desk where Wind Whistler was working. Twilight Sparkle was still with her. The two of them were comparing two books, talking about… something. Fizzy didn’t understand half the words they were saying. “Hey, Wind Whistler,” Fizzy said. “I still don’t really know what I’m looking for.” Wind Whistler looked up from her book and said, “I already explained to you what we’re looking for. I know this kind of research is complicated, but I simply can’t slow down to help you right now. Twilight and I are making magnificent progress towards understanding this enigma. I’d suggest you find one of the other ponies and help them.” “Okay, Wind Whistler,” Fizzy said, feeling a little deflated. She was just no good at this kind of thing. She walked away from Wind Whistler’s desk, randomly browsing the shelves. “What’s up, Fizzy?” a voice said. “You look a little lost.” “Huh?” Fizzy said, looking around. “Where are you?” There was nobody around. The voice chuckled and said, “I’m right here.” Fizzy followed the sound and noticed a pair of blue eyes staring at her from behind a shelf, having removed two books to have a view. Fizzy walked around the shelf. It was Pinkie Pie. “I don’t really know how to help,” Fizzy said. “I’m no good at research.” “This is some really advanced interdimensional theory we’re researching,” Pinkie said. “Say, I have an idea! We’ve been researching for a while, and I think I saw Rainbow Dash banging her head in frustration. Why don’t you and I go out and get the others some refreshments?” “Gee, that sounds great!” Fizzy said. They started walking towards the exit of the library. “We should get them something that isn’t too greasy or crumby. I’d hate to ruin those books.” “You’re right,” Pinkie said. “What’s least likely to cause a mess?” “Well, I’m the clumsiest pony I know,” Fizzy said. “But I never spill a drink if I have a straw to go with it. How about some soda or something?” “It might have to be ‘or something,’” Pinkie said as they stepped out of the library. “We’re in Canterlot. It’s all high-class foods and beverages here. I don’t know where we could find soda.” “Well, can we make our own?” Fizzy said. “Hmm…” Pinkie pondered. “I know some candies that you can dissolve in water to make a good soda flavor, and I’m sure we could find those here. But I don’t know where to find a carbonator pump.” Fizzy chuckled and said, “You’ve got one!” She cantered over to a puddle across the street and lit up her horn. Bubbles rose from the puddle. “WHAAAAAAT??” Pinkie said, practically glowing with excitement. “You can carbonate whatever drink whenever you want? THAT’S SO AMAZING!!” “Gee, thanks,” Fizzy said. “Should we go get some candy and water?” “Of course!” Pinkie let out a scream. “This is so exciting!” * * * Shady plopped another stack of books onto the table. Fluttershy looked up from her book, eyes wide. “That’s a lot of books,” she said. “I know, but we have to be thorough,” Shady said. “With magic as obscure as sending ponies back to an alternate reality, we don’t know where the answers might be. Better to be thorough the first time than to skim the library, miss the answers, and start over. I don’t want to test my luck by searching in only a few places.” “We brought soda!” Pinkie Pie said quietly, trotting towards Shady and Fluttershy. Shady had heard Pinkie shout “soda” in several sections of the library, each time met by aggressive shushing. Pinkie had a tray with glasses of colorful drinks and straws, and Fizzy was with her. “What flavors do you want?” Pinkie said. “Do you have grape?” Fluttershy said. “You bet,” Pinkie said, putting a glass on the table. “The usual for you?” Fizzy said to Shady. “Yes, please,” Shady said. “Good because finding a cardamom-flavored candy was not easy,” Pinkie said, putting a brown drink on the table. “But Fizzy insisted that we got it right. She’s a good friend like that.” Fizzy’s horn lit up, adding just the right amount of fizz to Shady’s drink. “How much fizz do you want, Fluttershy?” Fizzy said. “Just a little, thank you,” Fluttershy said. Fizzy’s horn lit up, and Fluttershy’s purple beverage started lightly bubbling. Shady sipped through her straw. Root beer with hints of vanilla, cardamom, and ginger. Fizzy often made drinks for her friends, and after years of experimentation Shady had decided that this flavor combination was perfect. “It’s like a little sip of home,” Shady said. “Thank you.” “No problem,” Fizzy said. “Let’s see if we can find Wind Whistler and Twilight.” They trotted off. “They seem to be getting along,” Fluttershy said. “Yeah,” Shady said. She sipped her soda and turned her attention back to the stack of books. She opened the first book and started skimming the contents for useful topics or references. It was just so much to look through. Shady quickly felt overwhelmed. “Oh, this is hopeless,” she said, laying her head on the table. “What if we never find our way home? I like it here, but I can’t bear the thought of never seeing my friends again! Heart Throb, and Paradise, and Surprise, and Buttons, and Lickety Split, and Galaxy, and Posey and all the others must be so worried about us. I miss them!” “That sounds scary,” Fluttershy said softly. “I know what it’s like to feel like everything won’t work out.” “Really?” Shady said, sniffling. “Oh, yes,” Fluttershy said. “My friends and I have had to fight to protect Equestria from doom. Too many times it’s felt like everypony’s fates were on my shoulders, and I was terrified I would fail.” “Equestria has faced threats like that?” Shady said. “But everything seems so peaceful.” “It hasn’t always been that way, but every time things worked out,” Fluttershy said. “Your situation will work out too.” “How can you be so positive?” Shady said. “Do you want to know the secret? It’s okay to be scared, but you can’t let that freeze you and prevent you from doing your best.” Shady was surprised to see such bravery from Fluttershy. Maybe she had this idea that all the bravest ponies were like Gusty, loud and bold. But if shy, quiet Fluttershy could be brave, so could Shady. “Thanks for the encouragement,” Shady said. “Let’s figure this magic out.” She started flipping through another book. * * * Gusty sipped her club soda, using a light breeze to flip through the pages of another book. Rainbow Dash happened to be walking by at the same time. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” she said, pausing in Gusty’s breeze. “Is that you?” “Yeah, that’s me,” Gusty said, turning off the breeze. “It’s easier than turning the pages by hoof.” “Neat spell,” Rainbow Dash said. “Thanks,” Gusty said. “I’ve never met a unicorn who could control an element of the weather,” Rainbow said. “Not even Twilight does that.” “From what I’m reading, it seems like unicorn magic works a little differently here,” Gusty said. “Say, how strong a wind could you make?” “Strong enough to blow a pony off her hooves,” Gusty said. Rainbow smirked and said, “You wanna take a little break from researching?” “What did you have in mind?” “We’re not far from the summit of Canterlot Peak,” Rainbow said. “Let’s go to the top and you make as strong as wind as you can. Then I’ll fly through and see how much of a boost you can give me.” “Sounds fun,” Gusty said. “As long as we’re quick. I don’t want to leave the others toiling in the library while we’re out having fun for the whole afternoon.” “Obviously we can’t do that,” Rainbow said. “We’ll be fast. Let’s go.” Gusty stood atop Canterlot Peak. From here she could see the landscape below in every direction for many miles. The old snow was hard under her hooves. The sun was warm, but a chill wind blew. Perfect. Gusty’s magic was more powerful when she was building off a wind that already existed. Rainbow Dash hovered next to Gusty. “To start out, blow some wind and I’ll fly against it to a get a feel for how strong you are,” Rainbow said. Gusty added a little more speed to the wind that was already blowing. Rainbow turned against it, flapping slowly to stay in the same place. Gusty turned up the strength of her wind, and her horn glowed brighter and whirred louder. Rainbow flapped harder to stay in the same place. Soon her mane and tail were whipping wildly and she had to squint to protect her eyes from the wind. Gusty turned up her magic to maximum strength. In the open air of the mountaintop, Gusty managed to make an impressive gale, maybe one of her fastest ever. Rainbow wavered for a moment, nearly getting blown away, but she managed to recover. She beat her wings furiously just to keep up. She let out an elated whoop. Then, to Gusty’s surprise, she sped up and broke past Gusty’s wind. Without the headwind, she shot off with a sudden burst of speed. Wow, she’s fast. Gusty thought. Most pegasi couldn’t fly faster than Gusty’s full-strength gales. Rainbow Dash came back to Gusty and said, “That was great! Now do it again, and this time I’ll use it as a tailwind.” Gusty’s horn lit up again. Rainbow backed up and let Gusty build up her wind to full speed. She flew a wide circle to come at Gusty’s wind at high speed. She slipped into Gusty’s airstream and— BOOM! There was a sudden burst of colorful light, a bone-rattling sound, and a shockwave that threw Gusty into the snow. She blinked, trying to clear the splotches of color that lingered in her vision. Suddenly Rainbow was standing over her, helping her stand on wobbly legs. Rainbow said something, but Gusty’s ears were ringing. Rainbow spoke again, and Gusty managed to understand. “Gusty, say something! How many hooves am I holding up?” “One,” Gusty said. “What happened?” “I’m so sorry!” Rainbow said. “I underestimated your wind. You pushed me past the rainbarrier, and I did a sonic rainboom right on top of you. It was my fault. Are you okay?” “I, uh…” Gusty’s ears were still ringing, and she felt dizzy. “Let’s get you off this mountain,” Rainbow said. She hovered over Gusty and wrapped her legs around her to pick her up. “I can walk,” Gusty said. “No, you look wobbly,” Rainbow said. “I don’t want you to trip.” She lifted Gusty into the air and carried her down the mountain. By the time Rainbow put her down in a street in Canterlot, she was feeling better. “Do you need to see a doctor?” Rainbow said. “No, I feel fine now,” Gusty said. “I think I was just a little shocked.” “I feel so bad,” Rainbow said, ears down. “I just wanted to have some fun, but I could have killed you!” “Hey, I had fun,” Gusty said. “That mountain was a great place to practice my magic. And, you know, I had never seen a ‘sonic rainboom’ before. Now I’ve seen one up close.” Rainbow chuckled. “You know, you’re a cool pony,” she said. They were just outside the library, and they started walking back inside. “Do you play any sports? We should hang out sometime.” “I play several sports,” Gusty said. “As for hanging out, let’s figure out how to get me home first. Then can see if there’s a way for us to visit.” “Oh, right,” Rainbow said. * * * “Please pass me Starswirl’s Compendium,” Wind Whistler said. Purple magic levitated the massive tome towards her. “Did you find something useful?” Twilight said. “Possibly,” Wind Whistler said. “It may just be another version of the mirror gate spell. I need to compare them.” Wind Whistler flipped in the compendium to the mirror gate spell and compared it with the spell she had just found in another book. “Hmm… I may need your expertise,” Wind Whistler said. “I don’t quite understand this ‘horn notation.’ Galaxy would have been a more proficient researcher in arcane topics than me, had she been here.” “You have been a brilliant research partner,” Twilight said. “Let me see that spell.” She stood next to Wind Whistler, comparing the two spells. “This is something different, alright. Let me see if this fits into the formula that Shady and Fluttershy found.” She took the book back to her seat. After looking over it again, she started scribbling furiously. Wind Whistler watched her in admiration. Twilight seemed to share Wind Whistler’s passion of learning for learning’s sake. She was educated, focused, and brilliant. Apparently she was the “Princess of Friendship,” whatever that meant, but she wasn’t constantly chatty like Pinkie Pie. Through these hours of research, Twilight and Wind Whistler had wasted no words in idle chat, only talking to communicate their findings. It was refreshing to spend so much time with a pony who seemed to think more like Wind Whistler, a pony who could keep up with her complex ideas—and even surpass her in the topic of magic. There were smart ponies in Paradise Estates—Galaxy and Paradise, for example. But they had their differences with Wind Whistler, and sometimes she felt isolated because nobody’s mind worked quite like hers. “This is it!” Twilight said, tossing her paper in the air in elation. “Wind Whistler, you’re a genius! With this spell, we can get you home.” “I’m glad to hear it,” Wind Whistler said. “A thought has crossed my mind. I would like to visit you all again once this is all over. Could we use that mirror gate spell to establish a connection between our worlds?” “I think that’s a great idea!” Twilight said. “I’ll have to go with you to Ponyland to set up the connection. Let me finish calibrating this spell to your reality, then we’ll meet in the library to send you home.” * * * All the ponies had gathered in the throne room. “I’d like to express our gratitude to the six of you for offering such valuable assistance to us,” Wind Whistler said. “Absolutely, you six are amazing!” Fizzy said happily. “You’re all so generous, and smart, and funny. I can’t wait to see you all again.” Everyone said tender goodbyes, exchanging gratitude and hugs, except Wind Whistler and Twilight. Wind Whistler didn’t like goodbyes. As for Twilight, when Fizzy tried to hug her, she said, “I’m going with you to set up the connection between our worlds, Fizzy.” “Oh, right,” Fizzy said, hugging her anyway. “Wait, if you’re going to an alternate reality, I want to come too,” Rainbow Dash said. “It could be dangerous.” “Oh, take me too!” Pinkie said. “We should all go!” “I don’t see why not,” Twilight said. “As long as we don’t stay too long,” Applejack said. “Those apples ain’t gonna farm themselves.” “Your world isn’t too scary, is it?” Fluttershy said. “Oh, it’s terrifying!” Gusty said, smirking. “Just wait until I tell you about Grogar!” “Grogar?” Twilight said. “Don’t try to scare them,” Shady said. “Our world has its threatening forces, just like yours. But most likely you won’t encounter anything dangerous in a short visit.” “Sorry, she’s right,” Gusty said. “Very well,” Rarity said. “Shall we begin?” “Yes,” Twilight said. She raised a scroll for reference, then cast a spell on an elaborate mirror with a pink frame. “That’s our world’s gate,” she said. “But that’s the easy part. Getting to Ponyland is the hard part.” She raised another scroll. “You can do it, Twilight,” Pinkie said. “It’ll be easy-peasy!” Twilight cast a beam directly at the scroll, apparently using the text to trigger the spell. She seemed to visibly strain as her horn continued to glow and hum. A distortion opened up in the middle of the room. It had swirling, fractured rainbow patterns, just like the portal they had walked through yesterday. The portal flickered and wavered. “Gah, something’s wrong,” Twilight said. “It’s unstable on this end.” Her horn stopped glowing, but the distortion stayed. Then it suddenly jerked forward and passed over Fizzy, who vanished into it. “Gosh, it’s still going!” Twilight said. She blasted the scroll with another beam, but nothing seemed to change. The portal rushed over to where Gusty stood, engulfing her. It moved towards Shady next, who jumped back, startled. The portal lurched forward, as though attracted to Shady, and she disappeared through it as well. “I’m sorry, I can’t control it!” Twilight said. “I hope this takes you to the right place.” Wind Whistler flinched as the colorful distortion rushed at her. Chaotic sensations ensued as gravity shifted and colors warped. Wind Whistler landed on a blanket of bouncy bubbles. “Thank you, Fizzy,” Wind Whistler said, standing up shakily, feeling disoriented. They were in a street, and not at Paradise Estates. It was a town that looked strangely similar to Ponyville. “Whoa, that was the weirdest rainbow I’ve ever seen!” a voice said. Wind Whistler turned to see a mint green earth pony with a mane of light and dark pink stripes. “Is everything okay in Unicornia?” she said. She stepped up to Shady and said, “Wait, you’re not all unicorns. Where are you from?” “Paradise Estates, in Dream Valley,” Wind Whistler said, dreading what came next. “Wow, I’ve never even heard of it,” the green pony said with a goofy chuckle. There it is, Wind Whistler thought, disappointed. “Just wait until I tell Pinkie Pie about this!” “Pinkie Pie?” Wind Whistler said hopefully. “Are we still in Equestria?” “Nope, haven’t heard of it, either,” the green pony said. “Hey, my name’s Minty. It’s nice to meet you.” “Oh dear,” Wind Whistler said. “Something appears to have gone wrong.”